


evan buckley vs. getting his shit together

by adhoori



Series: evan buckley vs. 'verse [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Buck PoV, Friends to Lovers, Gay Panic, Humor, M/M, gratuitous hen and buck friendship bc author said so, that's it that's the fic, this is less thirsty than the summary makes it sound, weapons grade fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 04:56:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18308624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adhoori/pseuds/adhoori
Summary: For a gay (or well, bi) crisis he gets over it fairly quickly. Work is busy, Chimney and Maddie are disgustingly cute, their calls get no less weird, Hen still makes fun of him, Eddie is hot. It’s the new normal. He’s fine. He’s doing great. It’s only gotten hotter in LA and his brain has been exposed to so much shirtless Eddie it doesn’t even faze him anymore. He’s immune to that crinkly-eyed smile and his abs and the way his back ripples on a push-up— it’s fine. He’s fine.





	evan buckley vs. getting his shit together

It starts with a mutual decision for him to move out soon-ish. Maybe less mutual and more Maddie kicking him out. Gently. With love. Okay, she tells him to get his own place because he’s “twenty-seven, not seventeen” but also because there’s only so many times he can handle accidentally seeing Chimney and his sister half naked (or completely naked like that one time and _ugh_ ). She says he can have a few weeks. That sounds like a reasonable amount of time. Shouldn’t be hard to find an apartment.

 

The thing is…maybe that happened a few weeks ago. And maybe he’d just…forgotten about it. In his defense, he was busy with work. Doing important...fireman stuff. Maybe he’d told Maddie he’d been looking at listings. He hadn’t. And now Maddie was asking him about why he hadn’t spoken to some real estate lady whose number she’d sent and oh god he really should’ve looked at some apartments.

 

His fingers hover uselessly over the keyboard as he figures out what to say that is least likely to get him murdered.

“Everything okay?”

He doesn’t almost drop his phone. He _doesn’t_. He’s LAFD, Eddie did not just startle him except he looks up to find the other man holding back laughter and says, “Fuck you,” because really, fuck him and his dumb smile.

“Also no, it’s not. Maddie’s going to kill me. It was nice knowing you Eddie, tell Christopher I’ll miss him,” he jokes, slipping the phone into his pocket.

“What’d you do this time?”

He tells him, finishing with an “I was _busy,_ ” at the look Eddie gives him.

“You know, if you really need to get out of Maddie’s hair, you’re more than welcome to crash on my futon, man. It’s not much but yeah.”

But then they’re called out and Buck figures Eddie’s just being polite.

***

He wasn’t. They’re done with their shifts for the day and in the parking lot when Eddie leaves with a _think about it_. And maybe…it’s not a bad idea. He emails the realtor lady first thing when he gets home, and texts Eddie once he’s slept twelve hours and feels human again.

_Buck: Are u sure?_

_Eddie: Of course_

_Buck: Okay, maybe just for a little bit. I already booked a few showings with a couple of leasing offices, I should be out of your hair soon_

_Eddie: As long as you need Buck_

_Buck: Thanks man, I owe you one. And Christopher, he’s okay with this?_

_Eddie: We’ve mutually agreed to accept payment in breakfast_

_Buck: Breakfast huh? I can handle that_

***

Okay, so it _really_ starts like this. He moves into Eddie’s apartment next week. _Moves in_ is maybe a strong term. He has one duffle bag, the rest of his shit is still in storage. Maddie tries really hard to pretend she’ll miss him and he flips her off, making her laugh. Chimney doesn’t even _try_ to pretend.

 

The futon in Eddie’s apartment is as comfortable as a futon can be and they’ve settled into a steady rhythm of work-eat-sleep-repeat within a week. Eddie and Christopher have a morning routine. Buck tries not to think about how seamlessly he inserts himself into it. It should’ve been harder, but it just wasn’t.

Eddie wakes up first, packs lunch for Christopher before waking him up. Buck wakes up to Eddie puttering around in the kitchen and then joins them in their workout. Christopher doesn’t like loud music so he gets a pair of Bluetooth headphones and pretends like he doesn’t see Chimney roll his eyes at him when they get delivered at the station.

***

He looks at apartments. He _does_ , for real this time. But he wants one close to work and maybe he’s a little picky and nothing ever quite appeals to him.  Eddie hasn’t mentioned anything though, he and Christopher seem content with hot breakfast every morning and Buck thinks he should send Bobby a gift basket for teaching him his one (1) life skill.

And then one morning it’s ninety degrees outside and Eddie works out shirtless and maybe he’s having a little bit of a crisis. Just a little bit. It’s not even like he hasn’t seen Eddie shirtless before but in the privacy of his apartment it’s...a lot. It feels _intimate_ and he has the brief, stray almost thought of going up to him and wrapping his arms around him and he finds his brain isn’t entirely opposed to that plan which is when he chokes on air and starts coughing and _oh god_ now Eddie’s _here_ and looking at him all concerned and he mumbles something about being fine and hightails it out of there.

_Buck: Oh my god_

_Buck: Eddie’s hot_

_Hen: We been knew_

_Buck: Shut up I’m…having a crisis_

_Hen: Oh?_

_Buck: Oh my god Hen_

_Hen: What! I’m having fun, this gay panic is very entertaining to witness when I’m not the one having it_

_Buck: I hate u so much_

_Buck: Also I don’t think I can ever look at him again_

_Hen: Because your feelings are less dudebro than you thought?_

_Buck: Are u laughing at me_

_Hen: Always, Buck_

_Hen: Okay but for real I’m here for u_

_Buck: Thank u but I think I’ll just die now_

***

For a gay (or well, bi) crisis he gets over it fairly quickly. Work is busy, Chimney and Maddie are disgustingly cute, their calls get no less weird, Hen still makes fun of him, Eddie is hot. It’s the new normal. He’s fine. He’s doing _great_. It’s only gotten hotter in LA and his brain has been exposed to so much shirtless Eddie it doesn’t even faze him anymore. He’s immune to that crinkly-eyed smile and his abs and the way his back ripples on a push-up— it’s fine. He’s fine.

***

It’s Friday night and he follows Eddie in as they trudge through the apartment tired and sweaty. Buck holds his left side carefully, it’d taken his weight when he fell on it and he was sore and achy although it was nothing some sleep and ibuprofen couldn’t fix. Christopher was staying with Lola for the weekend and the apartment was strangely silent because of it. Buck thinks maybe they’re used to having Christopher as a buffer because neither of them seems to know what to do.

He watches Eddie run a hand through his hair before seemingly making a decision. “Do you maybe wanna get food delivered? I’m kind of ready to just eat and crash, to be honest.”

“Yeah sounds good, I’m gonna hit the shower,” he says, making his way to the bathroom.

Buck takes stock of his injuries as he removes his shirt gingerly, wincing at the soreness. Besides some bruising that really looks worse than it feels he seems to be okay, he got lucky. The hot water feels good even if it burns a little and he comes out of the shower loose-limbed and just about ready to sleep.

“You feeling okay?”

Buck looks up at Eddie, but he’s busy opening the takeout containers in low hanging sweatpants and a threadbare t-shirt and oh god he’s too tired for this. “Uh, yeah I'm alright, should be fine in a day or so.”

“Okay, that’s good,” Eddie says, before flopping on the couch and grabbing a container. “Sorry, I’m starving,” he says, smiling sheepishly.

“No, no, me too, man. Dig in.”

He grabs a container of his own and settles on the couch at a respectable distance away after an internal debate of how close is too close and how far is so far that it’s weird. Eddie puts on The Office reruns and it’s quiet. Comfortable. Some would even say, _domestic_.

They finish their meals in relative silence and Buck curls up on the couch, using the armrest as a pillow. He’s only half paying attention to the episode while scrolling aimlessly through his phone. At some point the tv becomes comfortable background noise, the apartment is just warm enough, he’s pleasantly full and before he knows it he nods off, tired from the day.

 

He’s on the couch, sleep warm and still a little sore and he wakes up to find Eddie hovering over him, hair falling loosely over his forehead.

“Buck, hey, you should take the bed tonight.”

Eddie helps him up and he means to say that it’s Eddie’s bed and he’s the guest but his side hurts and the bed sounds like a wonderful idea and Eddie is warm and his hand is on the small of Buck’s back and it’s _great_. He opens the door for Buck and hangs behind, pulling his hand away before saying “Goodnight, Buck.”  

“‘Night, Eddie.”

***

_Buck: This is getting out of hand what do I do_

_Hen: …talk to him like a normal human being_

_Buck: That is terrible advice and is of zero help_

_Hen: Excuse me that is excellent advice Athena once told me that, are you saying Athena gives bad advice_

_Buck: No!!! But I mean, I can’t just TALK to him_

_Hen: Literally why not_

_Buck: Because I said so_

_Buck: If I ignore it do u think it’ll go away_

_Hen: Maybe if you ever move out. How’s that coming along :)_

_Buck: I don’t know why I ever tell you anything_

_Hen: :)_

***

Joke’s on Hen because the realtor lady magically finds the perfect apartment. It’s close to work, the owner lives across the country _and_ it has a six-month lease. In LA. She looks so smug while showing it to him he almost feels bad for the number of times he’s said no, but this is it. There’s really no reason for him to say no to this one and so he doesn’t. He comes home that day with takeout and a six-pack of Modelo to find Eddie watching TV.

“Hey, good news: I found an apartment, you will be getting rid of me in…two weeks. Ish.”

Eddie turns to face him while he sets the takeout on the coffee table. “Oh. That’s— that’s really great.”

“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy,” he jokes. He doesn’t know how he feels about the apartment thing. On the one hand...a real bed. He’d really underestimated having one. On the other…no Eddie and no Christopher. Still, maybe he’d finally get rid of his dumb crush. He was sure proximity was responsible for at least fifty-five percent of his feelings.

“Oh no, I am, you’re a terrible roommate.”

“Rude. I made you breakfast, asshole.”

He opens a can and passes it to Eddie who huffs a laugh before sobering. “I did…want to talk to you about something, though.”

“What’s up?”

“These past few weeks have been great but, uh, I was hoping-”

He opens the takeout container and grabs chopsticks before he looks at Eddie and winks. “Oh you don’t have to give me the speech, I already told you I was moving out, dude.”

“Will you let me finish— I’m trying to ask you out!”

Which, okay, _what?_ In what world did Eddie  _reciprocate his feelings_? Eddie looks panicked and Buck is pretty sure there’s a noodle hanging out from his mouth so he swallows and, “What?”

“Oh, I—um I thought you felt—never mind, we can totally pretend this never happened—”

“No!”

“No?”

“No take-backs, finish what you were asking,” he grins.

“Oh. _Oh_. So you—you’re such a fucking dumbass I can’t believe I want to date you.”

“No wonder you don’t go out, has that line ever worked on anyone?”

Eddie grins playfully and shuffles closer, prying away the takeout container from his hands before interlacing their fingers and turning the full force of his dumb eyes on Buck, and _oh_ maybe he gets the appeal a little. “Buck, can I take you out to dinner sometime?”

“Y-es,” he clears his throat and mourns the days when he had game. “Yes, I’d really like that.”

Eddie smiles at him, bright and happy and if it’s a while before they get to the food, no one has to know.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear what you thought :)
> 
> I'm also on [tumblr](http://www.hasan-minhaj.tumblr.com)!


End file.
